Communication devices can include functionality for transmitting and receiving data packets over two networks based on different communication standards. For example, wireless personal area networks (WPANs) may employ a Bluetooth® or an IEEE 802.15 standard in forming a personal wireless network using the 2.4 GHz ISM frequency band. This frequency band may also be employed by WLANs based on one of the IEEE 802.11 standards, as well. A Bluetooth® WPAN typically employs short-range (up to 10 meters), modest performance (up to 3 Mbps for Bluetooth® 2.0 standard), a dynamically configurable operating mode (ad hoc employing peer-to-peer networking and roaming), low power and support for both voice and data. A WLAN typically employs longer range (approximately 100 meters), higher performance (up to 54 Mbps), operating modes having either ad hoc or infrastructure structures (an access point coupled to a wired LAN), higher power and support for both voice and data.
Communication devices such as cell phones, laptop computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), etc., may include the necessary hardware, software, and components to wirelessly transmit and receive data packets according to both the Bluetooth® communication standard and the IEEE 802.11 communication standards. Communication devices transmitting and receiving over both WLAN and WPAN often employ coexistence algorithms and interfaces to provide coordination between WLAN and Bluetooth® technologies. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/722,681 by Shoemake, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, provides an example of a communication device transmitting and receiving data packets via two different wireless networks.
To reduce interference between the two technologies, a WLAN command line may be latched at the beginning of a Bluetooth® packet such that the decision whether to transmit or receive the Bluetooth® data packet is fixed for the entire packet. Thus, even if a WLAN data packet having a higher priority than an active Bluetooth® data packet is ready to be transmitted or received, the communication device will continue to transmit or receive the Bluetooth® data packet. What is needed in the art is improved coordination when transmitting or receiving data packets of two different wireless networks in close proximity.